A Guide to Impressionism: A City under Construction, Artists on the Move

Although Paris at mid-century was Europe’s second largest city, its infrastructure was antiquated and inadequate. Unlike London and Berlin, it lacked public systems for water and sewage, sufficient roads, and other urban resources to support its burgeoning population. The first act of the formerly exiled Napoleon III , nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, was to modernize Paris. He appointed Baron Haussmann to mastermind one of the largest urban renewal projects the world had ever seen. Paris became a vast construction site, and much of the city was demolished to make way for wide boulevards and modern buildings. Thousands of people—primarily the working class—were evicted and relegated to degraded and poor suburbs, a decidedly political ploy since Napoleon III considered these neighborhoods hotbeds of left-wing radicals. The family of Pierre-Auguste Renoir was one of those displaced. Their home stood on the site where the Louvre’s central courtyard is located today.

The negative aspects of living in the midst of urban renewal were offset by an exhilarating sense of change and vitality. Modern life in Paris attained a new vibrancy reflected in many Impressionist canvases. Middle-class Parisians enjoyed the increased leisure time made possible by time-saving machines of the Industrial Revolution. The urban delights of the theatre, concerts, and cafés were captures in the new paintings. And if one needed a break from city life, the countryside was now within easy reach.

Artists on the Move

The increase of rail travel was a key component in the emerging drama of Impressionism, especially with regard to landscape painting. During the 1800s railroad tracks crisscrossed France to create one of the finest transportation systems in Europe. People took advantage of this edoncimcal means of travel to enjoy the beautiful countryside or seashore away from the bustle of Paris.

Artists were also on the move, leaving their studios to paint the same landscapes and seascapes their fellow citizens were enjoying. New developments in artists’ equipment—lightweight, portable easels; folding chairs; and especially collapsible metal paint tubes that replaced unwieldy pouches made from pigs’ bladders and prevented paint from drying out—made it easy for artists to paint outdoors. In addition, explorations in the science of color and innovation in photography, the latter still a relatively recent invention, inspired artists to look at the world around them in a new way.

In Open Air

Advances in transportation made tourism ever easier for the French middle and upper classes. Holidays by the sea were all the rage, and visitors flocked to scenic ports along the coast of the English Channel (referred to as La Manche in France) to take advantage of the healthful sea breezes. Ty enjoyed the opportunity to see and be seen, as evidenced by the stylish clothing of the vacationers in this painting by Eugène Boudin.

Like artists today, 19^th-century painters worked hard to make a living from their art. Boudin’s pictures of fashionable figures on the beach were very popular, no doubt reminding those who bought them of their own seaside excursions. But Boudin’s upbringing and childhood—his father was a seaman and the artist himself spent time as a cabin boy—sometimes made him feel “ashamed at painting the idle rich.”

The subjects that truly captured Boudin’s heart was the ever-changing play of light and clouds billowing across the sky. To capture these fleeting effects, he painted directly from nature, using short, rapid brushstrokes to sketch the scene.

Boudin influenced the new generation of artists coming along, especially the young Claude Monet. In fact, Boudin exhibited along with the Impressionists in their groundbreaking exhibition of 1874.

Boudin’s unofficial student, Claude Monet, became the driving force in the new style of art. Following Boudin’s example, the passionate young artist began his lifelong love of painting outdoors. Monet later said, “Boudin, with untiring kindness, undertook my education. My eyes were finally opened and I really understood nature; I learned at the same time to love it.”

Like Boudin, Monet used short, quick brushstrokes to convey the rich details in this painting. Although titled Camille at the Window, the work is more than portrait of the artist’s wife: she becomes, almost, one the flowers he has vigorously depicted.

 

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